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An anonymous reader writes "NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' Bobak Ferdowsi, a flight director for the Mars Science Laboratory mission that lowered the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface in early August, will host a two-hour online broadcast on Internet radio station Third Rock Radio at 4 p.m. EDT, Thursday, August 30. The show, entitled 'Getting Curious with the Mohawk Guy,' will feature Ferdowsi discussing his experience with the landing of Curiosity, NASA’s evolving image, and renewed interest in science and exploration."

I recently read that Apollo 13 was actually saved by a hippie, and NASA quickly buried that fact, because they only wanted it to appear as if spacecraft were only designed and controlled by clean cut men..

If I were an astronaut I would want guys in the control room to have the clean-cut NASA-circa-1969 look. I would not trust my life to the guys that were in the control room during the Curiosity landing. I'm sure they are good at their jobs but they just don't look very professional to me.

If I were an astronaut I would want guys in the control room to have the clean-cut NASA-circa-1969 look. I would not trust my life to the guys that were in the control room during the Curiosity landing. I'm sure they are good at their jobs but they just don't look very professional to me.

I have a picture of my father when he was a NASA engineer for Apollo. Ponytail, beard, work shirt and jeans, which was pretty typical for those in his age group (the older engineers did tend toward the crew-cut-and-starched-shirt look). Yeah, the guys in the control room where the TV cameras could see them looked clean-cut and "professional," but a lot of the ones who actually built the machines and made them go didn't bother with that crap, because they knew--as any sensible person should--that real professionalism isn't something you can put on like a costume. This is as true now as it was then.

If I were an astronaut I wouldnt particularly care if the people in mission control showed up dressed as Little Bo Peep, sucked on passifiers and refused to eat anything but blueberry waffles. If they were the most capable human beings on the planet of getting me safely home I'd completely support them, including buying them a herd of sheep, a baby stroller and lifetime passes to IHOP.

Ferdowsi became a media "sensation", or "meme",[8] when during the August 6, 2012, landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, he wore an unusual mohawk hairstyle that was seen on NASA TV's live broadcast of the event. As the Flight Director he was in a prominent camera position and his mohawk unexpectedly became an iconic image of the landing.[9][10][11] Ferdowsi explained that he wore a new haircut for every mission and the mohawk was chosen by his team by popular vote.[12]When President Barack Obama called to congratulate the team, he noted the popularity of the "Mohawk guy," saying "You guys are a little cooler than you used to be."[13] Ferdowsi said in another interview that he did it to help lighten the seriousness of the workplace and "If my mohawk gets a few more people excited about science and this mission, that’s awesome."[6]

This only delegitimizes the agency, and will only turn NASA into some short-lived fad.

The exploration of our solar system, and the face of the United States should be that of a professional one.

Call me old fashioned, but the popularization of the agency through the embracing of pop-culture causes me to take the United States of America less seriously, and causes me to question my support of the country by continuing to conduct business within it.

>> the embracing of pop-culture causes me to take the United States of America less seriously, and causes me to question my support of the country

Yes, clearly a man with a mohawk is what makes America look bad. Not our war on drugs, wars on brown desert dwelling people, repression of gays, electing of disgraceful politicians like Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum [spreadingsantorum.com], or the fact that just weeks ago the civil rights debate in this nation hinged on buying a fucking chicken sandwich?

You do realize that suits and ties are dress-up costumes. They are in no way functional or necessary. Just like judge's robes are costumes.

Business and law both rely on a great deal of theatrics to present the image of legitimacy. And these theatrics are enough for people like grandma and you that would prefer to make snap judgments based on illogical assumptions in place of actually thinking.

Your apathy and love of tradition is holding the world back. Please begin to question the basic tenants of Western civilization so we can fix it before it is too late.

I agree 1000%. NASA grow up. The Will I Am broadcast pissed me off. What an incredible waste of taxpayer resources to promote a shitty pop star. What the fuck was wrong with transmitting 'America the Beautiful"? or something not under copyright so EVERY american could enjoy it for free.

Both first and family names are famous Iranian names. "Babak" is the famous Iranian revoloutionaray leader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babak_Khorramdin ) and "Ferdowsi" is perhaps the most famous Iranian poet ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi [wikipedia.org] ).

Let's make a celebrity out of this guy with hair a little out of the ordinary, while the rest of the team, who worked just as hard, goes unnoticed and under-appreciated. Also, let's praise this guy so much that the only thing he has to be thankful about is his decision to get a mohawk, and not his engineering degree.

There is precedent, though. Look at all the fuss they made about the inadequacy of Gabby Douglas's hairdo when she won her gold medals. We're one big country full of don't-give-a-fuck-about-anything-but-your-hair.

Let's make a celebrity out of this guy with hair a little out of the ordinary, while the rest of the team, who worked just as hard, goes unnoticed and under-appreciated. Also, let's praise this guy so much that the only thing he has to be thankful about is his decision to get a mohawk, and not his engineering degree.

It's just ye olde Standing Out In The Crowd. That is why a lot of "artists" nowadays don't know out of craziness what to do anymore: outrageous clothing, outrageous behavior, stupid-looking sunglasses, something to do with jewelry, etc. etc. Are they still good? Likely (sometimes with auto tune). Are there many, many artists who are far more accomplished but unknown? Absolutely. They just don't stand out hence are not noticed.

Mohawk Guy got noticed. Great! Perhaps it goes to show that you don't have to look

Remember when you were in school and bored? You'd look around the room or out the window for anything remotely distracting because you didn't understand or didn't care about what was going on in the classroom.

Well, he was actually interviewed on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me a few weeks ago (you can find it online at npr). Evidently, he gets a different haircut for each mission and it was the team who voted him the Mohawk.

It's the other guy - the former rocker turned physicist who managed the landing of the rover - who I find to be the interesting one of the bunch.

But really, I don't care who's getting the camera time. so much as the mission hasn't been forgotten.

I swear, the landing of the rover reminded me of the ending of the truman show. Everyone goes nuts at Trumans escape, and when the show ends, some dude asks, "whats on next?"

Some of you may not know who this "Mohawk Guy" is. He was originally born and raised in San Fransisco. By his early 20's he was a drifter, directionless and alone. He'd ride the bus all around downtown San Fran playing his boom-box too loud, much to the annoyance of the public. His spiked hair and bracelets discouraged just about everyone from voicing their opinion on the noise level until one day he met his match. Two brave men, both with thousands of hours of flight experience, boarded the bus and sat across from him. One man, noone ever knew his name, politely asked that he turn off that damn noise. He gestured rudely and turned his music up. The other man reached across the aisle and firmly pinched the man's neck, instantly rendering him unconscious, the boombox silenced the moment his head landed on it.

Noone knows the fate of the two airmen that boarded the bus that fateful day. Rumors persist that one was a burnt-out hippy that went to Berkley. However, noone was able to find any documentation of a man entering the hospital overdosed on LDS.

One thing is certain: It will be centuries before we see all the profound effects this guy has had on the timeline.

As opposed to the guy who invented transparent aluminum, and ended up floating face down in the swimming pool of his sprawling Bel Air mansion, a pound of cocaine on the patio table, fourth wife, a 21 year old named Bunny passed out in the living room after a two-day long crystal meth binge and a couple of beach bums living in the guest house and using the hot tub to wash their clothes. Poor bastard couldn't deal with success and in his last months was heard blaming his out of control irritable bowel syndrome and his wife's predilection for cheating on him with the entire male staff of a nearby Starbucks on some crazy Scotsman who had given him the secret formula for transparent aluminum, talked into computer mice and consulted some grizzled-looking weirdo about the effects of time travel.

Wow you really don't get it do you? This is about changing the image of a group of people who've typically considered boring. It was INTERESTING because it was DIFFERENT. Not sure how you don't understand that.

cause anyone with a phone line can upload a podcast, thats the same as being somewhat significant enough to warrant even 10 seconds of real time live broadcast even on AM radio?

yea I am stupid happy anyone can have a voice, but anyone's voice is useless in a sea of noise, hince why people seek out beacons, those beacons happen to be in realtime radio where people still go out of their way to listen to someone speak when they speak, instead of downloading a mp3 and calling at a cute name

But, I think he got a lot of unwarranted attention; possibly at the expense of other coworker due more credit for the success of the landing. Another note, I was disappointed at the casual dress in the mission control center. Jeans and shirts, etc. Seems like they could have at least gone business casual for one day. It just looked unprofessional to me.

oh, stop bitching. they were there to get the job done. dressing them as monkeys would not make them do it better.i'm sure they all are more professional than many slashdotters, especially those who whine about "suits !!!". they put a damn car on mars.

i'm starting to suspect that all this complaining is coming from those who are forced to wear suits and are jealous of others:>

When I read posts like yours, I can't help but see a Dalek screaming: "Conformity! Conformity!"

You may want to consider just to what extent you've been programmed to automatically associate certain looks with certain values. While prejudice saves a lot of time, it tends to make one miss out on a lot of interesting folks.

I am curious to hear what/.ers would like to see from NASA in terms of outreach. It seems most of the work goes towards kids. I'm not against that but many technical people would like to know more about what NASA is doing at a more technical level.

What types of things should NASA be doing? For instance release CAD models of rovers so people can build one in ther 3D printer or release the code for the software flight systems.

What i want is for them to NOT cut coverage of the lander SECONDS after we got confirmation it was safe. The landing team checklist was valuable info and they cut out to the NASA TV anchor. What I want is to NOT focus on a team members haircut to pander to kids. What I want is for them to realize sending a teacher to space is stupid. I want NASA to be NASA, a bastion of science, not pandering

Also, for every person who says NASA should be a bastion of science, not pandering, there's another who says that NASA needs to sell itself to the public to keep interest up and thus Congress willing to give NASA money. Since despite their attempts at popular outreach NASA is still undoubtedly, unequivocally, unassailably, a tremendous bastion of science, I think the latter has the better point.